The 16e is the first iPhone that uses Apple's new in-house C1 5G modem, which the company developed after a lot of expensive R&D and buying out Intel's 5G business. It's a modem that doesn't match up very well with Qualcomm's, at least on paper.

At the heart of the system, the C1 (Cellular 1) chip first appears in the iPhone 16e. It is also expected to debut in other Apple devices in the coming months and will likely see use across all or most of the iPhone range by this time next year. Apple calls it “the most power efficient modem ever in an iPhone.”

Apple has finally introduced its first in-house modem alongside iPhone 16e, the C1, marking a major shift in its hardware strategy.